Prana and Mind - Way to Liberation

The flow of prana in the nadi's is directly related to the state of mind. There are three major nadis - ida, pingala and sushumna. Generally the breath shifts between ida and pingala. For a brief duration, it flows through sushumna during the shifting phase. The mind becomes free only when the breath flows through the sushumna. Until then it remains captivated by duality, the good and bad, positive and negative, pleasure and pain... When the breath flows through sushumna, the mind becomes more of an observer. It is the state of meditation. The goal of a yogi is to keep the breath in the sushumna channel.

When the prana flows through ida, you can feel the breath flowing through your left nostril. When the prana flows through pingala, you can feel the breath flowing through the right nostril. When the prana starts moving in sushumna, the breath starts flowing in both the nostrils.

A hatha yogi uses different physical poses to control the flow of breath. Mahamudra is one of the mudras that helps in making the breath flow through sushumna. That is why that mudra is given a very high importance. Long back it was the secret known only to the himalayan yogis. Advanced yogis control the flow of their prana, just with their mind. Keeping the mind in the bridge between the nostrils will help the breath flow through the sushumna.

One cannot be always putting some effort to keep the breath flow through the sushumna. It has to naturally flow through sushumna most of the time without any effort. That stage is achieved when the major energy blocks (granthis) along the sushumna are opened up. That is achieved through yogic practices. Kriya yoga moves the prana in the sushumna to clear the blocks. It is considered one of the quickest methods to achieve great results. Working directly with the subtler body (being aware of the energy body) is my favourite way for clearing the blocks. I consider it a very efficient technique.

When the energy blocks are opened up, the prana starts flowing through the sushumna giving a state of freedom and bliss. It may not free one completely from the worldly suffering immediately. There may be still disease, old age and death. But, a free mind makes you a pure observer. An observing mind does not add further karma as you would lose the sense of doing and you would know things happen through you. Things happen to reduce the karmic burden. It would pave way for liberation.

The Importance of Physical Body

A human being is not just what is visible to the physical eyes. The physical body is just the gross aspect of the human. Every living human being has a physical body, an astral body and a causal body.

The physical body immediately starts disintegrating when the astral body along with the causal body gets separated from the physical body. This process is generally referred to as death. The astral body also dissolves after some period, after taking appropriate lessons in the astral plane. It is the causal body that remains forever (till liberation) forming new astral and physical bodies according to the need.

For one to attain liberation (to completely dissolve the causal body), the physical body is necessary. Shri Adi Shankara in the Viveka Chudamani described three things that are very rare in this world: to have a human birth, to have the desire for liberation and to have the blessings of the realized master.

So, what is the need of the physical body? For the spiritual evolution to happen, the energy has to be anchored into the system (the Physical-Astral-Causal complex). Proper amount of energy when moved in proper channels, brings spiritual development. What I mention as energy channels is referred to as nadi in the eastern terminology. There are three major energy channels: ida, pingala and sushumna. Sushumna is the major nadi/channel that the yogis are concerned with. When the energy is moved in this channel from muladhara (bottom chakra) to sahasrara (crown chakra) and above, spiritual evolution happens faster.

Our system also receives cosmic energy. This movement is from top to bottom. We have more control over the energy that we can move from muladhara to sahasrara. That is why some yogic traditions like  kriya yoga, mostly concentrate on kriyas (kriya pranayama) which moves the energy in the sushumna channel.

The gross form of energy in our system is the sexual energy. It can easily and readily be converted to the subtler form and moved up along the sushumna. This is the most important process that happens in the human system. It naturally happens whether one is aware of it or not. But, when one becomes aware of the energy and moves it, the entire process of spiritual evolution becomes quite quick. This fueling of spiritual evolution, in this manner, is possible only with the physical body, through which we can convert the gross energy and feed the subtler systems.

In yogic techniques like Kriya pranayama, the energy is moved consciously and in systems like vipassana, the blocks are cleared and the energy is allowed to move on its own. The one who knows this secret makes the best use of his life.

Enlightenment is Our Natural State

Enlightenment is the natural state of our being. It sounds too simple. You may think of asking, why then only a fraction of the human population is enlightened. It is because, we give more importance to the mind and we always work on improving that. The pure awareness could be equated to a plain white paper. The mind is something like a painting on that white paper. When we work on the mind, we give a different coating over the existing coating, trying to create a better mind. The awareness is always pure and no external thing can pollute it. It is the emptiness itself. How could something stick to that emptiness.

The only way to get back to our real nature or being established in our pure awareness, is to make the mind pure. When the mind is perfectly pure, it becomes non-existent. For example, the pure water is perfectly transparent, tasteless and odourless. When there are some minerals or solute particles, it may become a solution and take a different name, by losing its purity. In the same way, the ultra pure mind is a non-existent mind.

One can never see the plain white sheet which is behind the painting. To get to that, you have to remove the painting. Creating another painting over that or trying to manipulate the painting will not help much. In the same way, you have to transcend the mind to get established in the pure state of pure awareness.

One may ask, how come this strange mind with all its ignorance started working, completely masking the pure awareness. The Buddhists call this ignorance a 'beginningless ignorance' and we do not know exactly how it all started. The good news is that, we have a way to put a full stop for this and return to our original nature.

One may ask, if there is no mind, how will I function and carry out my day to day responsibilities. The answer is that, when the screen is clear, the projection is perfectly visible. Imagine, you go to a movie theater, and the movie is projected on some screen which has different colours. It would not make much sense for you. In the same way, if a thought comes in the state of pure awareness, it is more innovative and powerful. At the same time, you shall remain not affected by the thought and would be able to function better.

Now, you may think. It all sounds good! But, is it really possible to achieve a state where there are no thoughts and stay in the state of pure awareness? Or is it really possible to become a silent witness of the thoughts, not being carried over by it? The answer is, you might have already experienced such a state. I need not give you a proof. That state being too brief in duration, you might have missed to observe it. Let me try to help you recollect. Have you ever come across any frightening situation? You might have seen a snake in your living room or your friend might have given you a shock by shouting when you did not expect at all or you might have escaped a near accident. In such shocking events, you shall be pushed to a state where there will be just pure awareness and no thoughts. Could you recollect anything of that sort? At some stage of your life, you might have come across such situation.

It does not mean that such a pure awareness is always related with a shocking incident.. ha ha. You might have experienced such a similar situation in immense joy too. But, such awareness, is actually beyond pain and pleasure. It is a pure witness, a state of high alertness, a plain emptiness which is the pure consciousness. This state of awareness is our innate nature. Nothing has to be added to realize that. Just the not-necessary things are to be removed to realize and experience that, which is our pure state of being.

Yoga Nidra - The Yogic Sleep

Yoga Nidra or the Yogic Sleep is one of the practices that the yogis have been practicing for going deep into their being or getting established in the awareness of the self, the natural state of existence.

A combination of Yoga nidra and the sitting meditative pose will help one realize the natural state of awareness quicker. If one is already an advanced student of meditation, one does not put any special effort to do yoga nidra as it naturally happens. If one is in the early stages of the practice, it will greatly help to progress faster. 

Yoga nidra is not a special technique. It is simply the way of observing. Just by observing, one gets established in the natural state of awareness and not by doing anything. If you know what to observe and how to observe, you achieve best results.

One of the main requirements of yoga nidra is the ability to relax the body completely. Just completely let go! The technique that I am going to share will help one relax better. The next step is plain observation. The rest will happen on its own.

For a proper relaxation, savasana or the corpse pose is the best. Being in the corpse pose, passing your mind through each and every part is the best way to relax. While passing through the individual body parts, you could feel the warmth of the body, the blood circulation, the pulse or anything that you are able to feel. But, to get the feel is quite important. When your mind gets sharp enough,  as you practice, you shall be perfectly able to feel the subtler vibrations. If you are a practitioner of Vipassana, in the tradition of Goenka, this is going to be a very easy task for you. It is because, in Vipassana, the whole importance is on the sensations of the body. Working with the sensations makes the mind sharp and piercing. Only when you are able to feel the subtler vibrations of the body (I would prefer to call it the feel of etheric body), a perfect relaxation is possible. When the mind is not sharp enough, we may not notice the tensed regions of the body and we may think that each and every part is relaxed. When the mind is sharp enough to feel these vibrations, the rest of the job is very easy and it will just happen.

The next step is observation. When we speak of observation, we have to either observe the mental contents (the thoughts) or the contents of the body/matter (the sensation). Both are just two sides of the same coin. Observing the mental content may be good for meditation. But, for yoga nidra, it is better to stick with the sensations of the body as you have to allow the mind to completely relax or dissolve to enter the state of yoga nidra. In yoga nidra, you become a perfect observer of the mind. Once you advance, you may enter the state of yoga nidra by observing the mental contents too. But, it is always easier to enter the state of yoga nidra by observing the sensations.

One should perfectly understand the importance of a pure observation. Let me give an example. Let us suppose, you are watching your favourite TV programme. You are so involved in it, that you may even miss someone passing near you. Here your mind was so immersed in one thing, that you are not aware of the rest of the world (a sort of samadhi). In the same manner, if you just stick with the sensation/the subtler vibrations, you would naturally not be bothered by the passing thoughts. When you reach that state, you naturally enter the state of yoga nidra. 

So, what you are going to do is, completely relax and start observing the sensations. Just keep on observing the sensations. You may fall into a sort of sleep in a deep relaxed state. But, you just keep on observing the sensations.  You need not note that you are falling asleep. When you are an adept in pure observation, your body will naturally sleep and you shall be able to observe it. You shall be aware of what is happening in that state. It is called yoga nidra. It is not a state of unconsciousness as in the case of deep sleep. It is a state where your are in a deep awareness. You are awareness itself.

Some additional points that may help you:

If you are new to observing the sensations of the body, it is better to feel the sensations part by part, moving your mind slowly. Once you become good enough in doing that, you would be able to observe the whole of your body as a mass of vibrating particles. When you are able to observe the whole of your body, it is easier to fall into the state of yoga nidra.

Do not expect to enter the state of yoga nidra on the first day of your practice. It takes time. We have to allow the things to happen on its own. That is the state of the mind which is 'just observing'. You need not have to do anything.